For one thing, as somebody who has definitely been in the crowd of those who expressed something in the range of concern to alarm over Richt’s roster management during the past two or three seasons, it is a flat-out relief to see a large class with a ton of early enrollees that has very little in the way of reaches (twenty four-star kids by ESPN’s count). That should pay immediate dividends in shoring up defensive depth, particularly in the secondary and at linebacker (not to mention that Grantham sounds satisfied with the help he got for the defensive line), and in improving athleticism on the special teams. I’m having a hard time pouting about that.

And another thing about that class size – there’s a little more margin for error when it comes to evaluation. I’m not buying the “I’d rather have a bunch of three-star kids who want to be in Athens than the five-star prima donnas” stuff, because, let’s face it, the odds are better that you can turn a highly regarded high schooler into an above-average contributor on the college level than the rest of the pack, but the flip side of that coin is that there will always be plenty of four- and five-star kids who don’t pan out the way you hope/expect. If half of Georgia’s 2013 signees make a respectable impact over the next four or five years, we’ll be pretty happy. (And if a couple of those twenty four-star kids wind up playing on an elite level, we’ll be ecstatic.)

What the success of this year’s class boils down to – what the success of any recruiting class at Georgia boils down to – is context, that is, how does it fit into the way the coaches have molded the program and where they’re trying to take it. Brice Ramsey’s rawness means nothing right now, or even next season, but if he never develops the way Bobo thinks he can, then, yeah, it’s a big whiff. But you look to future classes for insurance against that costing your program overly much.

… With the early enrollees and today’s signees, Georgia currently has 87 scholarship football players. That includes some guys like Brandon Harton and Blake Sailors who may not have their one year grants renewed to get us down to the NCAA-mandated 85. But with only 14 seniors on the roster and almost zero candidates among the juniors to leave early, next year’s class may be the smallest of the Mark Richt era. If the guys in this class don’t pan out, we are in deep, deep trouble. Because it will be two years before we can start trying to make up for any mistakes.

I think that’s right. But I’m less concerned about a class of thirty-two completely imploding than I am about a class half that size doing so. Especially when this year’s bunch looks credibly deep. But none of that should mean Richt starts a trend of failing to get some of those five-star in state studs, either.

I can’t read the future. Neither can Michael Carvell, I suspect. But I do know better than to judge the impact of this week before those kids have even seen their first G-Day game. Those of you out there who have been hyperventilating about the crushing disappointment of this class ought to remember that, too.

85 responses to “Georgia’s 2013 class: hey, it could be worse.”

Don’t feed the trolls at the AJC, Senator. That rag tries to emulate ESPN (at best) and the NY Post (at worst). It wants clicks and takes the low road by trying to impart (false) drama to whatever it publishes. I’m sticking to you, Seth Emerson, the ABH, and Dawg Sports as go-coverage.

First of all…Carvell is an enormous deuche. Just the site of his ugly mug makes me want to blow chunks.

Having 5 of the top 10 recruits in the nation instate and not signing 1 of them is a disappointment for sure. But this is an awesome class! If those kids dont want to be at UGA the bump em. We signed 14 of the top 300 prospects according to ESPn. Alabama signed 18. Not that far off.

The class is so big, there is no way some of these kids won’t pan out. We addressed our needs at LB and in the Secondary. I’m a little worried about DL depth still but like the Senator said, Grantham seems content.

My biggest gripe is that we only signed 1 RB. I know we went all in on Kamara and Malcolm transferring late in the game makes it tough but c’mon coaches. If Gurley gets hurt we are SCREWED! We signed a dozen LB’s or so. Couldn’t we have added 1 or 2 more RB’s. And no I’m not counting the white kid that played single A private school ball. Bama already has 3-4 former 4 and 5 star RB’s on the roster and they signed 4 more MF badasses. Why do our coaches continually let us be so thin at RB?

I think we did great this year. For all of those who are tearing out their hair and gnashing their teeth over the lack of 5 star recruits, get over it. Georgia would have them if they wanted to be here, but obviously they wanted to go out of state. I keep seeing on the messageboards where Coach Richt is letting all the home grown talent leave the state. What the hell is he supposed to do? Offer them cash? girls? cars? We are lucky to have Coach Richt and I hope we have him for a long time.

As the Senator and several others have pointed out, so many blue-chip recruits come out of the state of Georgia that even if Mark Richt could convince all those kids to come to UGA, it would be literally impossible to sign them all. It’s easy to “close the borders” when you’re in a state that only produces a handful of elite recruiting prospects each year, much harder when you’re in a state that produces dozens. But even with the guys like Tunsil and Adams who are headed out of state, I’m a lot less worried about our handle on in-state recruiting now than I was when I was a student and guys like Jamal Lewis and Jacquez Green were leading what seemed like an annual exodus out of the state.

Breathless predictions of doom made in February always seem a bit silly. The most obvious flaw in such projections is how many of these kids actually make it to campus. We typically don’t sign a bunch of kids that can’t enroll, but that’s not how they roll in the SEC West. I remember in 2000, Auburn had a class of about 30 kids and 9 didn’t make it onto campus by fall.

As to attrition, I would imagine Herrara will go pro and it won’t shock me if Malcolm Mitchell jumps early too.

Wasn’t Gurley a 4 star? Pollack wasn’t even that was he? Thomas Davis was a 3. You don’t know what is inside the heads and chests of these guys until they compete. Relax and let’s see what they do on the field.

As far as keeping up in the east is concerned, I feel like we did enough. While UF may have signed a higher ranked class we are still better than they are at the most vital position: QB. However, in the context of trying to beat Alabama, I don’t know how we can’t say that we’re further behind today than we were the first Saturday in December.

Seriously, this may wind up being a much more significant quote about this year’s class than we think:

“That’s about right from a numbers standpoint,” Grantham said. “When you look at the SEC championship game, we did a lot of great things in the game, but the bottom line is that in the second half we didn’t stop the run. By adding the depth we have right now, I think that can help facilitate that a little bit.”

That quote is worth everything with this coach and class. It means that he recognizes the problem and has a good idea how to fix it. While I’ll be watching Grantham’s production with this team closely this year, his pronouncement leads me to believe he can put an even better D on the field this year. He needs to do just that instead of excusing poor and confusing direction to the players as “players tiring”. Just because I didn’t like or accept his excuse doesn’t mean that I don’t have faith in his and the selected players’s ability. We just need it to occur consistently on the field and during the games. No more SC games ever like last season.

Glad the hullabaloo is over and the wishing like a kid for Christmas presents concerning imagined abilities of multistar players will stop with some agonized fans. My piece of mind was provided for by not clicking all week on the large attracting headlines to some blogs, who it turns out, couldn’t predict their way out of a paper bag, but still had fans at the station waiting for the sugar plum train to pull in. I didn’t look for the class results until 7PM and wasn’t disappointed with the class already obtained. Some fans have to start thinking for themselves and researching each player’s abilities themselves before taking the OPINION of others as if it is the word of CFB gods.

While I am excited about this year’s class and the potential they bring to Athens, this staff still failed to hit their target number of 35 available spots. We all know that there will 2 to 5 kids currently on the roster that will be make it through the up coming off-season for one reason or another. This is what leads to the issues Grantham points out. Falling short by 3 kids this year, 2 kids not making it during the summer, 1 who fails to make the grade…rinse and repeat. This is the trend UGA continues to follow. Until this staff routinely meets their full allotment of players, or exceeds that number due to expected departures, the Dawgs will continue to come up short against the LSU’s and Bama’s of the world. Last season’s success came due to a great running game and great coaching. Again, I am excited about this class and the size. However, it is still falling short of the magic number.

By no means am I saying this team is filled with malcontents. However, kids will be kids. It may be grades, could be drugs, arrest…anything. History tells us there will be a few that do not make the cut. I hope everyone stays, but I am not willing to bet on it.

Don’t forget if the full 35 was signed next year’s class would be extremely small. There are only about 15 rising Seniors and very few Juniors who are likely to turn Pro. Georgia may only have room to sign around 17 in 2014.

Well senator while I’d love to see the 2012 uga/bama match up as a “toss-up” as the result may have suggested, I don’t think that was the reality. A blocked fg, a successful fake punt and inexplicable first down passing by bama contributed to that. I don’t care what anyone says, we out coached them that night by a lot. Overall though they dominated us at the line of scrimmage (save our pass rushing) and that’s why missing on Adams and tunsil really hurts. Hopefully, we’ll develop who we have and we’ll get those dominant fronts that are separating us from them right now.

I’d argue we should even wait until there’s at least one fall practice before we start teeth gnashing. Then again, there’s probably some vocal minority that believe Mettenberger would have been better than Murray based their respective G-Day performances in 2010, despite all evidence to the contrary since then. Eh, what the hell am I thinking – there’s still a vocal minority that thinks Hutson Mason is a better option than Murray despite having zero evidence to support that assertion (i.e. a guy with no meaningful snaps whatsoever over the guy that will likely hold nearly all meanginful Georgia and SEC passing records at the end of his time in Athens if he stays healthy). The moral of the story is that our fanbase is pretty stupid at times and guys like Carvell feed that stupidity be creating fake drama.

The only future seeing Carvell does is trying read the chip dust at the bottom of a doritos bag. The guy is a round face mouth breather who would be better served covering D&D matches. I unfollow anyone who retweats his nonsense on espn and he is a great indicator of worthiness at the tailgate…quoting Carvell about UGA recruiting….oh really…I think something is on fire.

And one that many of us round-faced mouth breathers resent. We stick to just putting down the thin-faced mouth breathers crowd. It kinda rounds us all out as egg-sucking idiot fans who take themselves far too seriously. If you can’t laugh at yourself treating 17-yr olds like each one can personally turn the tide in games without benefit of his supporting teammates, then you don’t even know this team sport. You should act child-like and as an idiot only during the games.

Now, some of you need to clean your draining little snotty noses, wipe your tear-stained faces clean, take a dump and get back into the great status as a UGA fan. We need everyone pulling together, especially this year. It’s going to be fun again.

Being overlooked in all of this is the significance of having a bunch of this class already enrolled at UGA. That’s huge…not just from an administrative standpoint, but in getting these kids settled and comfortble and on task to learn and contribute. I believe this is a brilliant move by CMR.

Carvell stinks but kids in Atlanta read his garbage. I wonder how much influence his negativity has on a recruit’s thoughts on UGA?? I understand that he is simply trying to get a click but he’s getting a bunch of them. The hometown paper shouldn’t be biased towards the home state school but it also shouldn’t be incredibly biased against the home state school either. I really wish the powers that be could make some noise and stop his ridiculous headlines from being printed. One riduclous headline from a week ago stated “Desperate?? UGA offers last minute offer to in state OL.”

Georgia currently has 87 scholarship football players. That includes some guys like Brandon Harton and Blake Sailors who may not have their one year grants renewed to get us down to the NCAA-mandated 85.

Ummm…that’s assuming all of the signees qualify academically. I’ll eat my hat if all 32 signees qualify academically. That would be unlikely at most any school.

If anyone gets the shaft at Georgia between now and September, you can come back and do your little equivocation accusation dance then. But since we both know that won’t happen, I’ll just avoid the rush and say goodbye to you now.

The point isn’t whether it will happen or not. The point is the justification being made already for it. My favorite is the suggestion that they’ll only be taken away from walk-ons who earned it “through hard work and dedication.” No problem there. They knew it was on a year-by-year basis — which is somehow different from every other scholarship player. And the suggestion that not all will make it in is nothing more than tacitly admitting you’re either recruiting players you have no intentions of giving scholarships, or your risking taking scholarships from other players. Where’s the moral high ground in that?

I’m not suggesting any of this to say you’re just as “bad” as the Bamas of the world. It’s to underline the fact that it’s not a moral issue at all. Congrats, Georgia. “We accept you, we accept you. One of us, one of us.”

1) You can define YOUR point however you wish, of course. But MY point is PRECISELY “whether it will happen or not”. It almost certainly will not – for the reason I gave and others, but NOT for the reasons you are defending. The only reason I responded to your comment was because your were accusing Georgia fans of equivocation, when no UGA student has gotten screwed out of a scholarship yet. If it happens, then fine… come on back and poke us with a sharp stick at that point, but it hasn’t yet. I can’t say the same for your team, though.

2) The suggestion that not all will make it academically is abso-freakin-lutely NOT “tacitly admitting” any of the nefarious shit you alleged. It is a recognition of reality in big boy college football recruiting and then compounding that recognition with a huge class 32 member class. The odds are simply against all those players being admitted, and that would be true at most universities recruiting at this level.

3) You are correct in saying your point is not to accuse Georgia of being ‘as bad as Bama’. Quite the opposite is true, in fact. Your point was to allege that Bama is ‘as good as Georgia’ in regard to how they honor scholarships.

4) In light of item #3, exactly who is doing the equivocating here?

Now…having said all of that…let me climb back down off of my high horse and reiterate my invitation to you. If any UGA player is screwed out of his scholarship between now and September, you come right on back here and point that out to us/me. Odds are, I’ll already be complaining about it, and I’ll welcome your help.

Trying to solve problems you don’t have (the last quoted material) is a terrible waste of time and a pretty weak argument for any proposed solution/mitigation. You guys are stacked and have a lot of experienced talent to play beside the new talent.

Even if all 85 left next year, Georgia would likely have the greatest recruiting class of all time.

All of this negativity is about one player, Tunsil. The class is excellent by any definition, but one stud OL tackle would have sealed it. When I look at what, reportedly, cost us that recruit (hundreds of social media contacts from the staff to him and his girlfriend, and whatever was involved with that), I am fine with us going on without him. I neever want us to get on our knees and beg, or to do anything shady to get a HS player to come to Athens. Period. Let’s focus on those who want to be there, and support them.

The Grantham thing is bothering me more. I am happy to have him stay, but am already tired with the story of him wanting to be somewhere else. As with BVG’s exit, I am not comfortable with the impact he may have had with recruiting. Frankly, his three years in Athens are pretty mediocre and I hope he, or his successor, step their game up inj the future. Year one was bad, year two was pretty good (except for pass defense), and year three was disappointing. IMO, the 3-4 is only effective against the power running games we face against LSU and Alabama if you have stud ILBs. It doesn’t matter who is at nose guard without a run stuffer at ILB. That is why it works at Bama, and why we failed at it with UGA. The 3-4 is excellent against lateral runs to the perimeter and rushing the passer. Our pass defense hasn’t been reliable in many years. Not saying he did, but if CTG wasn’t honest with recruits about his plans, I have an issue with him staying anyway.

1. The AJC isn’t trying to get page-views with their BS about recruiting rankings not mattering. That’s just how entrenched columnists think. They don’t like the blogosphere because it threatens their industry and thus they aren’t inclined to process the research that comes out of it, research like Hinton’s posts about the correlation between recruiting success and on-field results. Bradley is much better about using data than Schultz, as evidenced by the fact that he went from buying Paul Johnson’s BS to making the argument that recruiting results explain Georgia’s on-field dominance over the Jackets, but he’s by no means perfect.

2. Blutarsky makes a good point about depth. Georgia’s defense was disappointing this year, despite several high four-star recruits leading the unit. A defense with twenty good players might be better than one with three or four superstars, but suspect depth. SB also makes a good point about the number of early enrolees. I saw a stat somewhere about the fact that a number of recent Heisman winners all got to school early.

All that said, I’m still going to stand by my point that this class was a giant missed opportunity, especially in light of next year’s likely smaller class. It will be bigger than 14 because of natural attrition (especially when players on the roster get passed by incoming freshmen), but the end result may well be two straight years of classes that aren’t as good as those of the rest of the SEC’s elite.

Also, am I the only one who is concerned about the mix of a Malzahn offense and a defense heavy on blue chippers?

Agree with you on the missed opportunities, but Georgia never had as clear a shot at some of those kids as the pundits pretend. Nkemdiche was a non-factor as soon as his brother signed with Ole Miss. I think Adams liked Garner all along, but wanted to be in a 4-3 more than a 3-4 (and he’s right about that). Kamara would have been a nice get, but if they pull Chubb in next year, I don’t think the program will be hurt.

Losing Tunsil was the real killer this year. Not just because by more accounts he’s a stellar talent, but also because he would have allowed the staff to shift Gates out of the left tackle slot back to guard where he’s much better.

Yeah, Tunsil is the one that really sticks out, especially because his recruitment is fishy. With Nkemdiche, Ole Miss can point to his brother. With Laquon Treadwell, Ole Miss can point to a HS teammate and his prior statements about wanting to play in a passing spread/Air Raid system. With Tunsil, a UGA/Bama/FSU recruiting battle that suddenly turned to Ole Miss? If I had to put odds on Ole Miss paying to get a recruit, that’s where I’d place my bet.

Giving a scholarship to a brother who is not regarded highly enough to be included among the 232 receiver prospects in the state of Florida for 2014 is not illegal… though you could say it is a little shady. Package deals usually at least have marginal prospects. His brother isn’t even on the margins. This is a straight pay off to his family in the form of an athletic scholarship. They use up two schollies (one for 2013-2016 and one for 2014-2017) for one player that, if all goes according to plan, will not be there for the 2016 season. That is even worse roster management than not signing a player.

That is why making the headlines in February is less important that making the headlines in December/January.

I am originally from C-gown and Chubb is a good looking back, runs with a nice. Saw a couple of games, my brother has a daughter in the band and saw all the games. Chubb is pretty much their only O. So hopefully he makes it thru next year healthy.

Yeah, I’m thinking long-term here. The question with Malzahn – as with most offensive gurus who become head coaches – is whether he will be able to recruit a defense, the side of the ball that Spurrier says is all about talent. Malzahn is answering the question affirmatively so far.

This class is definitely not a disaster and it will allow us to continue to compete at a high level now that we’ve got a quality coaching in place on both sides of the ball. Having said that, the teams who have led the SEC in recruiting (according to Rivals) in the BCS era are Bama, UF, TN and LSU. The teams who’ve won a NC are Bama, UF, TN, LSU and Auburn (I don’t think Auburn’s finished #1, but finished #2 the class before they won the NC). I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the names are similar on both lists (and that the names not on the lists are similar). If we’re consistently in the 2-7 in conference recruiting, we’re going to consistently be 2-7 is the standings with an occasional breakthrough year maybe when circumstances align properly. Good class, not a championship class probably.

Can I just say how much I love this blog? This is by FAR the most rational and fair discussion I have seen on this this recruiting class.

My thoughts: Only getting 1 or 2 of the top 10 in the state (depending on which rankings you’re looking at) looks bad and can’t become a trend. But this is a class that is full of highly rated guys who all want to be here, and fills a lot of needs (especially at LB and in the secondary). Losing Tunsil hurt, losing Kamara doesn’t bother me too much if we get 1-2 stud RB next year, and the sting of losing Adams goes away a little if Toby Johnson comes on board in a couple weeks.

And, of course…if Tunsil/Kamara/Adams had all committed back in November, and Shaq/Matthews/Ramsay had all waited until NSD to put on the “G” hat on ESPNU, most of our fans would be ecstatic about this class.

Last year I saw in person 26 Georgia high school games outside of those broadcast on TV. I doubt if anybody at the AJC or Stable Macon saw that. I saw Kamara, Green, Ramsey, Choice, Hill (Ole Miss), and many more not only in 2012 but in 2010 and 2011. Kamara is as good a TB as I’ve seen…speed and power. Green is one of the most determined, aggressive, you will not stop me runners I’ve seen, Ramsey…outstanding hands and feet…he will give CMR and Bobo a lot to work with…plus he will cause issues with the clock and time management for opposing D’s with his kicking ability. Hill was a top receiver but will go to the D side at Ole Miss. He was going to Ole Miss last year. Choice…has been running Central O for two years. If you beat Central last year…write it down…it will not happen in 2013…Central is going to light it up in 2013…will not be stopped or slowed on D.
You have to see these guys play season after season and against top teams. I am all in with CMR…those 32 young men are very good…everyone is tops. They chose Georgia. They are committed to Georgia. I am committed to them.
But let’s look back at the past two years. Dawgs have some very good players. Never saw Boise with a top 10 class, but they beat the hell out of everyone they played…the right players for their system and a great coaching staff. Can knock Freeze all you want, but Ole Miss can play. You had to see that between the hedges this year. Don’t get caught in a score sometimes…factor in the schedule, roster, experience, and etc.
Bama beat everybody because of their O line and O line staff. Take a peek at the staffs and the other SEC 3 deep roster. O lines have to have size, strength, technique, game plan, and coaching. Was not happening until after 2010. Not at first, but Will Friend has won me over. Georgia is beginning to look like what a Georgia team should…we are going to move the ball on you…over you, through you, or around you.
Like last year’s class a lot and this one too.

Great post. Liked the insight on the HS game. Just one thing….”Don’t get caught in a score sometimes…factor in the schedule, roster, experience, and etc.” Isn’t it always about the schedule, roster, experience, and etc.? With any team. OBC thinks so.
uT played us much closer than OM and they were on their way to a tie when Bray blew up. Ole Missy lost by 27.
just sayin’

Truth is the future of the program is going to depend a lot more on how the Dawgs navigate those first four games next year than how future recruits perceive our 2013 signing class through the eyes of the AJC. I know kids are kids, but I’ll trade a couple of 5-stars for the assurance that we won’t have another brownie-eating epidemic on spring break. Suspensions had a lot to do with the erratic defensive performance in 2012, and we just can’t afford a slow start in ’13.

THIS!!
5* Prima Donna’s don’t help you if they are suspended due to grades, getting arrested or pissing hot on a drug test.

Tunsil was straight up bought by Ole Miss and if that is the kind of kid he is then I am glad we don’t have him. I am hoping Beard will improve enough to be the LT next year and let Gates slide back inside. I thought that the LT-Beard, LG-Gates,C-Andrews,RG-Burnette/Lee,RT-Theus line worked pretty well toward the end of the year. Also don’t forget Greg Pyke, and the Long brothers are back as well. If there is someway we get K.Houston eligible we’ll have a SOLID 2 deep O-line for the first time in recent memory.

I don’t recall anyone jumping up and down last year yelling “We GOT GURLEY! WE GOT GURLEY!”. Nope, Gurley was a quiet 4 star athlete similar to the batch of kids we just signed. One could make a strong argument he was the best freshman in cfb.

CMR just signed a terrific class. Anyone arguing otherwise doesn’t know shit about cfb. OR, as is the case with the ajc, just trashes everything UGA.

Stars have as much to do with how familiar a recruiting analyst is with the player. If he isn’t sure about the kid because he hasn’t seen him in person or the kid has missed playing time due to injury, the analyst will be cautious. So a kid who might have been a 5* winds up only a 4* simply because the analyst is more comfortable with that. All the analyst has is his reputation. Much safer to err on the side of caution, award a 4* rating and talk about the kid’s potential rather than designate a recruit a can’t-miss 5* superstar who winds up a dud. The difference between 4* and 5* is negligible anyway.

Also I think that having so many of the recruits on campus already will provide benefits that negate the lack of 5* ratings. It’s frustrating not getting Tunsil when it seemed like such a lock but as far as the team’s odds of future success on the field, I think it’s looking very bright.

Quote Of The Day

“But outside of that, the biggest advantage you can have is have good leadership, have a veteran football team, and when you’ve got that, it doesn’t matter whether you have spring practice or not. When you don’t have that, it’s tougher, when you don’t have leadership and you don’t have the experience at certain positions.”— Kirby Smart, Dawgs247, 3/31/20